The balanced scorecard as a tool for pharmaceutical marketing performance management : Case Pharma Inc
Hedenborg, Axel (2019)
Hedenborg, Axel
Åbo Akademi
2019
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2019052116327
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2019052116327
Tiivistelmä
In the past quarter century, the practice of management accounting changed drastically after the introduction of the balanced scorecard (BSC) (Kaplan & Norton, 1996a). Subsequently, it became common practice to include other than just financial measures in performance measurement. Conversely, marketing performance management (MPM) is a field that despite increased interest in recent years still poses challenges to both researchers and practitioners alike. As the push for marketing accountability increases in firms around the world (Hanssen & Pauwels, 2016), this study seeks to create understanding about the BSC as a tool for MPM in the pharmaceutical industry.
This study is a multimethod case study including an action research approach to creating a pharmaceutical marketing BSC for the vaccines business unit of Pharma Inc, the case company. The study is supplemented with document analysis, observations and semi-structured interviews with five Pharma Inc employees.
The suggested marketing BSC was positively received by the respondents, in part because it matched current practices in Pharma Inc. The findings further suggest that the proposed marketing BSC could be utilized as a template for annual strategic marketing planning processes and for MPM. To achieve the primary benefits of the BSC, it should be used as a vehicle for all four levers of control (Simons, 1995). The perceived benefits of the model are aligned with the findings of Madsen and Stenheim (2014a), while many of the perceived problems found by the authors (2014b) were in many cases viewed as prospective benefits instead.
The primary considerations for creating a marketing BSC in the pharmaceutical industry are the modification of the customer perspective to fit market dynamics, making the design process inclusive to business unit members, creating strategy maps to visualize the causal relationships between strategic objectives and using terminology familiar to the implementing organization in the model.
There is a distinct lack of research on marketing-oriented BSCs. Therefore, this study adds to the academic literature on BSCs as well as MPM. As a practitioner-oriented study, the findings are of interest to both researchers and managers alike.
This study is a multimethod case study including an action research approach to creating a pharmaceutical marketing BSC for the vaccines business unit of Pharma Inc, the case company. The study is supplemented with document analysis, observations and semi-structured interviews with five Pharma Inc employees.
The suggested marketing BSC was positively received by the respondents, in part because it matched current practices in Pharma Inc. The findings further suggest that the proposed marketing BSC could be utilized as a template for annual strategic marketing planning processes and for MPM. To achieve the primary benefits of the BSC, it should be used as a vehicle for all four levers of control (Simons, 1995). The perceived benefits of the model are aligned with the findings of Madsen and Stenheim (2014a), while many of the perceived problems found by the authors (2014b) were in many cases viewed as prospective benefits instead.
The primary considerations for creating a marketing BSC in the pharmaceutical industry are the modification of the customer perspective to fit market dynamics, making the design process inclusive to business unit members, creating strategy maps to visualize the causal relationships between strategic objectives and using terminology familiar to the implementing organization in the model.
There is a distinct lack of research on marketing-oriented BSCs. Therefore, this study adds to the academic literature on BSCs as well as MPM. As a practitioner-oriented study, the findings are of interest to both researchers and managers alike.